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- Robert was a grandson of John Dinsmoor, the Scotch emigrant to Ballywattick, Ballymoney, County of Antrim. He was a farmer. A brother lived near him, and each ha d a large family. He was a leading man in the parish, was held in the highest respect, and was a Presbyterian in his religious faith. His intelligence was of a high order, and to him are we indebted for thre preservation of the genealogy and early history of the family. He was a man who enjoyed writing, and during his life he kept up a correspondence with a Laird Dinsmorr, at the old home in Scotland, and with his relatives in New Hampshire, US.
One of his letters of Aug 12, 1794 to his cousin John Dinsmoor of Windham, New Hampshire, brother of Col. Silas Dinsmoor, the Indian agent.
In it he gives a detailed genealogical description:
"My grandfather was born on the mean land of Scotland, near the River Tweed - the son of a wealthy farmer, as I supposed from his style, being called the Laird of Achenmead, as he had tenants under him. He had two sons, of which my grandfather was the second, whose name was John. He (John) left his father's house in the seventeenth year of his age. I suppose he must have eloped, as he brought no property with him, as I have often heard, save a gray bonet of great extent, with striped woollen hose, and a small cane in his hand. This is your original in Ireland, and mine; and all by the name of Dinsmore, here or elsewhere, that belog to that stock. Therefore, you will be ready to say, we have little to boast of. But stay a little, my dear friend, and let us go a little higher, and return to Scotland. You see, as above, we are spring from a farmer. Will this give us any dignity? Yes, the most ancient, the most honorable in civil life. The second man in creation was a farmer. Cain was a tiller of the ground. What are Monarchs? What are Kings, Dukes, Lords, Earls? What was Alexander, or Philip of Macedonia, but murdering vagabonds? "The character of a farmer is far above them all. Stop but the farmer and his culture, and you sweep off the human race at one stroke. So you see that the farmer's station is exalted above all others. Therefore, our pedigree is higher than any other whatever.
"I must crave your patience. Suffer me, then, to return to my grandfather and his offspring, of which you are a sprout. This man (John) had four sons, John 2, Adam, Robert and Samuel. John was the first that migrated to America of the name, and the first that struck a stick in Londonderry. This man was your grandfather's father and my uncle, who surmounted many difficulties in providing a large and free estate for his offspring, and in the attempt was made an Indian captive. ...
This man (John I) lived until he was 99 years of age. He was fifty years married, and twenty nine years a widower, which ended his life, much respected by all who were acquainted with him, for his piety, morals, and good sense.
The Dinsmorr coat-of-arms is a farm laid down on a plate, of a green color, with three wheat sheaves et upright in the centre, of a yellow color, all emblematical of husbandry and agriculture.
ROBERT DINSMORE
Title: Leonard Allison Morrison, Among the Scotch-Irish: and a Tour in Seven Countries, in Ireland, Wales, England, Scotland, France, Switzerland, and Italy; with History of Dinsmoor Family (Boston, Massachusetts: Damrell & Upham, 1891)
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Tofterå Slettemoen genealogy
1720 - Aft 1794 (75 years)
